Over the weekend, we added 60 more lbs of black flourite and moved a couple of plants around. We now have the base (terrain) we are looking for (hopefully). We still need to plant up the right end of the tank, the slope in the middle (likely blyxia) and scatter 3 or 4 species of background plants across the back ... certainly open to planting suggestions. Ground cover?
150 Gallon Build Thread ... From the Start
- Thread starter WaywardSon
- Start date
Lookin great Coy!!! Just got back in town.
Your standing water measures lead me to believe all is golden. No need to tweak with your KH etc. and your ph appears to be stable. I'm a little confused as to why you'd have no nitrates with the new stock addition though... remeasure? In my mind, you can stock up conservatively and in small groups to allow the biolad to adapt (this is good practice regardless of how old the tank is).
Your standing water measures lead me to believe all is golden. No need to tweak with your KH etc. and your ph appears to be stable. I'm a little confused as to why you'd have no nitrates with the new stock addition though... remeasure? In my mind, you can stock up conservatively and in small groups to allow the biolad to adapt (this is good practice regardless of how old the tank is).
For planting suggestions, I know it's not among the more "desirable" plants, but planted densely sunset hygro does look nice and bushy in the back, and a variety of more interestingly colored plants in spots to break up the overall look makes it all the more pleasing to the eye. That's what I'm working towards now, and the hygro certainly fills in fast under good light and CO2. Rotala is my favorite stem plant for breaking up the backdrop, along with some nicer reds, which I'm working on acquiring and propgating myself right now. Hornwort can look nice too when placed right, but getting a little frustrated with mine wanting to float free of the sand, mostly thanks to a whiptail catfish my wife just HAD to have, LOL! Wysteria makes for nice breaks in the "treeline" as well. My own lights are T5 HO, 8x80W 6,500K, running 5 of them for 9 hours per day trying to get the HC to spread into a nice carpet, but it isn't going well, again mostly thanks to that catfish. I think that little guy is likely to end up in the 20 gallon tank again shortly until things fully root in the 100g and take off! As for the discus, not here man... my wife saw the price tags, LOL!!! Besides, my tap water is liquid rock and I'm having issues with that in the tank anyhow. Beginning to think hard about an RO/DI unit as my next major tank expense! Looks great with the additional substrate man, real nice work.
The tank is looking great. I can't believe how cleanly it started. No cycle issues. Great job.
It looks like you could still use a bunch of plants to fill that tank up. There is plant swap in a couple of weeks and you are more than welcome to come. I guarantee you will go home with loads of great plants. The details are below.
Oregon Plant Swap Meet
Date: Saturday, April 4th
Time: 1:00
Place: Pizza Hut
8335 SW Tonka St
Tualatin, OR 97062
Anyone else in the Portland area is welcome to come.
It looks like you could still use a bunch of plants to fill that tank up. There is plant swap in a couple of weeks and you are more than welcome to come. I guarantee you will go home with loads of great plants. The details are below.
Oregon Plant Swap Meet
Date: Saturday, April 4th
Time: 1:00
Place: Pizza Hut
8335 SW Tonka St
Tualatin, OR 97062
Anyone else in the Portland area is welcome to come.
